When it comes to translations you try to get as close as possible. For that reason the smallest difference can lead to huge misunderstandings. And it seems this has happened to K of The King Of Fighters series. The cool anit hero is seen as a loner but it seems one fan translations explains that SNK might made a few slip ups. Nothing to changing about him it just gives him better context. Check it out .
A lot of the English translations over-angryafy K’ to make him look a lot more edgy and grumpier than the Japanese version. The gist of the conversation is there but they definitely didn’t do a good job translating the nuances, which sadly makes K’ look more like an edgy rageaholic. A big reason is actually that 90% of his dialogues in the original Japanese lack that exclamation mark that the translators put in for some reason. So we got translators to thank for thinking about how angry K’ is all the time lolExamples of translation differences (excluding most examples of exclamation mark differences)
0:03 – Kyo doesn’t say “life must be hard, I feel bad for you” but rather “life must be hard on you, you have my sympathies” (it’s a lot less condescending)
0:08 – K’ doesn’t say “just shut your trap!” but rather -> “just… be quiet…” (like ‘leave me alone…” instead of “STFO asshole!”)
0:31 – K’ doesn’t say “I remember you alright! … a constant pain the behind!” He just says -> “yeah I remember you being a dead weight.” (reference to when he teamed up with Benimaru in ’99).
1:14 Elizabeth doesn’t say “your life is the epitome of misfortune,” she says -> “your existence itself can probably be said to be quite unfortunate.” (less mocking and more sympathy).
K’ never said “are you having fun talking down to me like that huh?!” he just says -> “what are you rambling on about on your own,” then follows (without exclamation marks) “I’ll define my own existence, it’s not a subject I need others to lecture me about.” as opposed to “You stay out of this!” which sounds like a kid throwing a tantrum.
1:31
K’ –
“What!? Are you talking in your sleep or something!?”
-> “What’s up with you…? Stop talking in your sleep.”
“Mind your own business!”
-> “I don’t need you to worry about me.”
4:00
K’ – (King telling him to smile a bunch from time to time like Kula)
“Are you serious? I’m not as dimwitted as she is”
-> “stop messing around… as if I could put on an idiot face like that”
King –
“Aww I think you’re being shy! That’s pretty cute!”
-> “You’re a surprisingly shy guy. You seem to have a cute side after all.”
K’ –
“Alright, that does it. Get ready to get burned!”
-> “Stop talking about nonsense, I’ll burn you.”
8:33 [this is the biggest offender] Leona and K’
K’ –
“What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you doing anything? It makes my blood boil!” (lolwut)
-> “What are you so gloom about (くすぶる -> to have worries/feel down/under the weather), just looking at you makes me irritated (not angry).”
Leona –
“I think I’m doing plenty to be honest. …Are you… talking to someone else?”
-> “I don’t think I’m feeling gloomy, are you seeing something else through me…?”
K’ –
“No, I’m talking to you. Hmph, seems like I’ve said too much”
-> “It’s not really like I’m seeing anything… tsk, we’re chatting around too much.”
Leona –
“Indeed… we’re not on the same level here…”
-> “Indeed, neither of us are the type (to chat around).”
We know Leona is extremely down in KoF XIII in the story mode too when Kula points out that she looks more gloomy than usual and Maxima says that she doesn’t look okay to him either. The correct translation makes a lot more sense in conjunction with that conversation (in which K’ doesn’t speak).
I’m not going to go through every single character but you guys get the point. Honestly… why do people get paid to do horrible translation jobs…. funny thing is it’s the same with anime too, fan subs are always better than official subs half the time -.- It just annoys me to no end because it’s not SNK butchering a character, but the freakin translators who’re messing it up. Like Kula’s line “I’ll put it out, your ice with my flame that is!” Like wtf? The Japanese version is completely fine with the “I’ll extinguish your fire with Kula’s ice (she talks about herself in the 3rd person, more natural in Japanese, stupid cringey in English ik),” her name is in it, how do the translators get that wrong?
Reddit:https://www.reddit.com/r/kof/comments/f56bmw/k_snk_made_a_tsundere_antihero_and_western/
If you like what you see please hit the like and follow buttons. As always this is Jcphotog now Jcrcomicarts saying thank you for reading.
